The proportion of state school pupils applying to Oxford University dropped to just 55.7 per cent.

The university traditionally has among the lowest proportion of state school entrants in the country.

But in 2011/12 it was 57.7 per cent, meaning there was a two percentage point decrease in 2015/16.

It comes as ever other university in the elite Russell Group reported an increase in the percentage of state-educated students in the same period.

Overall 89.9 per cent of young, full-time undergraduates in the UK who started university in 2015/16 were educated in the state sector.

Oxford director of undergraduate admissions and outreach Dr Samina Khan said: "Figures released last month by Ucas show that our offer rates for students from low-participation areas are outperforming the rates that would be expected given predicted grades and subject choice.

"We are also expecting to increase our proportion of state school students for 2016 entry, having made more than 59% of offers to state-educated applicants in this cycle."

By comparison 61.9 per cent of entrants to Cambridge University were from state backgrounds.